Firstly, I feel that this past year was the game’s first determined effort to achieve some sort of balance and create a game away from the show, both through the new banlists and in the sets released.  While they are always a work in progress, the banlists seem to continue to strive to limit the amount of ‘broken’ cards able to be played, and to encourage a level playing field. The Chaos monsters seem to be a thing of the past, strong OTK’s seem more-or-less completely castrated, brief experiments with both Pot of Greed and Graceful Charity proved unsuccessful, but some cards, for whatever reason, still seem to be with us, like Breaker. In general, though, it seems that the game is learning from each list and adjusting itself accordingly while trying to let us keep as many cards as possible. For example, Tribe-Infecting Virus was considered broken by many. But instead of banning the monster outright, Sinister Serpent, which was the card that caused TIV to be in the “broken” discussion was banned instead, as it served more “broken” purposes, and TIV was effectively un-broken. Although these individual lists have met with varying degrees of success and there has been much criticism to accompany them (metamorphosis??? Come on!), I am happy to see that progress is at least being attempted. 

Also, there is a noticeable lack of “Chaos Monsters” in 2005’s released sets, as well as those sets forthcoming.  There have been very few cards released that “must be included in every deck unless you are totally screwed.” (excepting possibly Cyber Dragon). Conversely, there has been an increase in cards that “are very good within a certain decktype (Horus comes to mind).” Although people seemed very afraid that Sacred Phoenix was going to be another “broken card,” the banlists and cards released prior to and after her release served to keep the ultra-mega chicken a balanced card. (For example, Phoenix was crippled by the influx of DD Assailant into the meta as well as the limiting of Magician of Faith, which makes Apprentice Magician far less effective). And while there are still severe problems with the overall utility of the sets that YGO has given us, a few cards have been strong enough and interesting enough to create new competitive decktypes.   

The structure decks have worked in conjunction with the banlists and sets to achieve balance. At the beginning of YGO, a duelist’s success was correlated to how much money he or she spent. If you had money to burn on the game, there was a far greater chance that you would win far more often than the kid with the Yugi and Kaiba combined Starter Decks. However, the released structures have given budget duelists access to things like DD Warrior Lady, Royal Decree, Tribe-Infecting Virus, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and the Monarchs. With 40 bucks and some ingenuity, a duelist could legitimately win regionals depending on the meta at the time. To me, this is what the game is about. With more level competition, the cream will always rise to the top, and those winning duelists can legitimately call themselves elite. 

As I mentioned before, sets have been releasing more balanced cards, but all the while they have been exciting. Briefly, I’ll list a few of the cards from sets released in the past year that I was particularly excited about, those cards the YGO world anticipated, and if they stacked up to my/the world’s hype: 

SOD:

Me: To be completely honest, there was very little I was excited about from this set before its release. I knew Mobius was going to be gamebreaking, as I absolutely loved Zaborg and his water-brother was “Zaborg on steroids,” so I immediately bought 3. Eventhough I bought 3 of him, I didn’t use him outside of my sidedeck for a few months. The world: The world found themselves enraptured by the possibility of the Horus-Lock. I didn’t much care, what can I say

Now: Well, Mobius has become such a potent force in this game that its almost not funny. Most decks run 1, a few run 2, and a few decktypes run 3, and all for good reason. Immediate 241’s are in such demand that there is no reason not to run the Frost Monarch. As for Horus, for now, I feel his time has sadly passed for the moment. Right now, the meta is not very spell based, and the amount of non-spell based removal is high. Actually, I felt that he should have been played a whole lot more during the last banlist, since it appeared that Pot, Graceful, and Duo determined the flow of the duel. With unlimited Morph, Fusilier, Solemn Judgment, and Goats in tow, Horus could have proven himself a strong decktype. But for whatever reason, people didn’t really start running a dragon morph until the end of the list. Perhaps we will see spells begin to rise again, and then Horus may again be in higher demand. 

RDS:

Me: I didn’t really like much in this set either. It was more of a fanboy set, I felt, boosting harpies, giving us the silent swordsmen, and the useless, although pretty Creator. Fusilier was interesting, however, his full potential wasn’t really unveiled until King Dragun was released (Don’t pretend Last Warrior decks were any good).

The World: Again, fanboy stuff, and I think most the world realized this. Creator was n00b f00d, and the rest is just fluff.

The World: A lot of people were calling for Lightning Vortex’s banning BEFORE IT WAS EVEN RELEASED!!!!!!! I laughed heartily at those, and in a calm manner, tried to explain to them that 1) that was stupid. There is no sense in banning something before its seen action, and 2) That you would usually net only a 242 with it, unless your opponent had goats (which don’t really count anyway). Phoenix frightened a few, but as I stated earlier, she was effectively dealt with and wasn’t much of a threat.

Now: While it was clear this deck tried to give us some beast support, the pretty much did an awful job of it, outside of the Rescue Cat OTK, which isn’t really in the same vein. Here’s some advice, Mr. Card-maker, support does not mean crappy situational spell cards, nor does it mean more monsters of a single type. It means cards that help to strengthen and streamline a decktype. Things like Reinforcement of the Army or Book of Life. Things like Pyramid Turtle or Enraged Battle Ox. Besides, its not like beasts were the decktype screaming for support. :cough fish, sea-serpent, dinosaur cough:

As for Phoenix, limiting her right off the bat was not a very good idea, especially now. She never had a chance to prove her utility. At 1, the way Phoenix currently is, it makes almost no sense to put her in a deck. When Magician of Faith abuse was at its height, throwing in a Phoenix for fun and a Hand really didn’t hurt you, but Phoenix was certainly not the deck’s focus. Now, without Faith to abuse, there is no reason to run a 2400, 8star, weak-stick, the dead draw hand, and the unswappable Apprentice Mage together. If Phoenix was at 2, or even 3, running Hand + Apprentice suddenly makes sense. If 1 Phoenix is RFG’d or otherwise dealt with, both Hand and Apprentice still serve a purpose; to summon other Phoenixes. A decktype this way would make sense. Otherwise, Phoenix is dead, dead, utterly deadweight.

TLM:

Me: I was a little off on this set. While I was pretty excited about Brain Control and Card of Sanctity, I really thought that Level Changing Laboratory was going to be far more useful than it has seemed to be. At the time, Reasonable Gate decks were gaining in power and popularity, and I thought that LCL would push it into that next Tier. I was wrong. Oh, well.

The World: Really, outside of Brain Control, I think the rest of the world realized the futility of this set. Fanboy stuff for everybody! Here come your E-Heros! Outside of DD Survivor, which at least serves to control the DD Assailant explosion, nothing much was stellar. In fact, the “Rock Support” that was attempted was entirely pathetic.

Now: Hasn’t been that long since the release of TLM. In general, DD Survivor isn’t AS useful as people thought he’d be, although he’s still really good. Brain Control helped Soul Control maintain its place as a Tier 1 decktype, and perhaps even gain in strength and consistency, as you no longer have to skip your battle phase. That’s about it.

CRV:

Me: I was like everyone else in both praising and fearing the release of Cyber Dragon. Not much needs to be said about it. However, I also thought that there was great potential for Dimension Wall, which has yet to be revealed, as well as for Water Art Technique, which was rendered hardly abuseable by Serpent’s banning and Abyss Soldier’s now limited uses. Also, Cybernetic Magician had so much potential that was nearly all but destroyed with Serpent and Goat’s banning/limiting. :sigh:

The World: Yay fanboys! Here’s some more E-Hero’s down your throat! At least Miracle Fusion is semi-useful. Cyber Dragon is an obvious favorite and rightly so. The Cyber End Dragon OTK also received a lot of hype.

Now: As expected, Cyber Dragon has infused the meta. While not all decks need to run 1, most run 1 or 2. Basically, B runs Cyber Dragons to counter A’s, and vice-versa. Soul Control/Monarch Control really has no need of them, but honestly, there is little reason NOT to play Cyber Dragon. The meta is relatively simple right now, and Cyber Dragon is a simple monster.

EEN:

Me: I only had my eye on a single card: Pot of Avarice. I couldn’t give half a care about everything else that was going to be released. I saw so much potential in this card the second I saw the spoiler. Cycling searchers, cycling Nomi’s, a straight up 241 w/ some interesting side effects. What more could a guy ask for? There was strength there.

The World: While I was lusting all over Avvy, the world was afraid of the Dark World. Literally afraid. My friend, who shall remain nameless, was legitimately upset when he read the rulings on the Dark World monsters. For example, he thought the Morphing Jar and Bottomless Trap Hole rulings would single-handedly push Dark World into a lone Tier 1 spot. It was kind of comical.

Now: I feel kind of proud on how well I called this set’s impact. Avvy decks are awesome. And, like I called it, Dark World still has a long way to go. I was pretty sure that it would take a good number of months for someone to figure out how to play it right, and it has. There was a very strong Dark World showing at the last SJC, but its still not quite there. So keep up the good work, Dark World duelists, it is a very potent decktype, and once you release its power, you will be heavily netdecked.

SOI:

Me: I don’t know about the rest of the world, since I am in the middle of one of my ‘breaks’ right now, but I am utterly excited for Yomi Frog/Yellow Spring Frog. The card is maybe the best thing released since Mobius. Cyber Dragon is good, really good, but he’s just special summon ‘nilla beatstick. Yomi Frog is so incredibly useful, I’ll just leave it at that.

Well, that’s about it for now. I figure I don’t need to cram more useless information and opinions down you guys’ throats for the time being, and my IPod’s batteries need charging. As you can see by the sets and cards I’ve listed, nothing except for maybe Mobius and Cyber Dragon can be placed on the same plane as BLS, CED, and Breaker. But, while every deck runs Breaker, not all decks run Cyber or Mobius. Breaker is a staple because of his intrinsic worth. Mobius and Cyber Dragon are semi-staples because of the current Meta. As the Meta changes, so to will the Mobius’s and Cyber Dragons of the world.

So it’s a step in the right direction, but there is still work to do. The banlist could be better constructed to allow for a greater infusion of playable cards and sets could actually contain more than 5-6 playable cards.